I remember one chubby kid in my entire elementary school in the early 70s, and he wouldn't even qualify as obese today. OTOH from what I hear from women today, the subject of this article isn't obese, she's perfectly normal and healthy and anyone who thinks otherwise should feel very bad.

I was Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia SC this morning. In the gorilla enclosure there was a sign saying that the average male gorilla weighed about 400lbs and the average female about 200lbs. In other words, about the same as an average American.

Mad_Radhu:Of course some people weren't obese back then because they were smoking and hopped up in amphetamines to curb their appetite.

This. I'm currently taking amphetamine prescribed by my doctor to fight lethargy brought on by my use of morphine for pain. One side effect is I have no appetite. I've list thirty pounds in 4 months without even trying. I can't believe amphetamine isn't used for weight loss by doctors.

OBBN:Mad_Radhu: Of course some people weren't obese back then because they were smoking and hopped up in amphetamines to curb their appetite.

This. I'm currently taking amphetamine prescribed by my doctor to fight lethargy brought on by my use of morphine for pain. One side effect is I have no appetite. I've list thirty pounds in 4 months without even trying. I can't believe amphetamine isn't used for weight loss by doctors.

I remember one chubby kid in my entire elementary school in the early 70s, and he wouldn't even qualify as obese today. OTOH from what I hear from women today, the subject of this article isn't obese, she's perfectly normal and healthy and anyone who thinks otherwise should feel very bad.

JHFC, this. You're fat. Fatty fat fat fat. It's not healthy just because everybody else is fat. "Average" is not some meaningful signifier.

It also always astonishes me when men (or other women) see a picture of a women who's actually in shape and proclaim that she needs to be fatter. Seriously?

Oh, and blubber and curves are not the same thing. Please stop confusing the two.

stevetherobot:And yet, the "slender" women in the swimsuit pictures and the subject herself in the "Now down to 155 pounds, an attractive Dorothy dances at Navy Ball" picture would be considered overweight today.

Not so much. She would have been considered overweight then, she was just less overweight than she had been. "Attractive" is used in comparison to her past self, not broader standards.

Today, that final weight would be considered "an average normal body, perfectly fine and in no way fat, thankyouverymuchnowbuggeroff".

OBBN:Mad_Radhu: Of course some people weren't obese back then because they were smoking and hopped up in amphetamines to curb their appetite. This. I'm currently taking amphetamine prescribed by my doctor to fight lethargy brought on by my use of morphine for pain. One side effect is I have no appetite. I've list thirty pounds in 4 months without even trying. I can't believe amphetamine isn't used for weight loss by doctors.

I believe a specialised appetite suppressant was approved by the FDA last year, but I wouldn't want to try it because not all the risks are known. I hit the 50 lb milestone this week going from 394 to 343 lbs since New Year's Day on a combination of lifestyle change and orlistat, so I wouldn't want to mess with something that's already working very well for me.

As an aside, I think that woman in 1950 was very brave to expose herself like that. It can't have been easy back then when women with her figure were less commonplace.

spigi:I was Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia SC this morning. In the gorilla enclosure there was a sign saying that the average male gorilla weighed about 400lbs and the average female about 200lbs. In other words, about the same as an average American.

Hey, I worked at that zoo when I was a kid! I went to USC and it was how I paid for my Ramen noodles before learning how to tend bar

/really nice zoo for such an unremarkable town//do they still have the polar bear observatory and sea lion feedings?

One thing about the fat people in this slideshow - chances are they were actually healthier compared to their modern counterparts. I mean, they ate actual food as opposed to the dollar menu at McDonald's and frozen pizzas dripping with ingredients no one can pronounce. I imagine that being fat from milk, bacon, and eggs is better than being fat from the frozen food aisle.

dickfreckle:One thing about the fat people in this slideshow - chances are they were actually healthier compared to their modern counterparts. I mean, they ate actual food as opposed to the dollar menu at McDonald's and frozen pizzas dripping with ingredients no one can pronounce. I imagine that being fat from milk, bacon, and eggs is better than being fat from the frozen food aisle.

Ish. Remember, for most of the 1940s butter and sugar were rarer commodities.

Does a size 40 even exist anymore? What would this dress in tfa's slideshow picture be in today's sizes?

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Probably a 22W or so, just eyeballing it. What's interesting to me is that if you look at the picture where she is measuring her waist, it's still only around 31". She carried a lot of weight in her chest and hips.

cptjeff:Oh, and blubber and curves are not the same thing. Please stop confusing the two.

Ha! Seriously. I've known more than a few fat (i.e. medically obese, not "pleasingly plump") girls who thought they really had something spectacular happening in the breast department, when all they had were enormous fleshy torpedoes that stared at their feet in the shower.

OBBN:Mad_Radhu: Of course some people weren't obese back then because they were smoking and hopped up in amphetamines to curb their appetite.

This. I'm currently taking amphetamine prescribed by my doctor to fight lethargy brought on by my use of morphine for pain. One side effect is I have no appetite. I've list thirty pounds in 4 months without even trying. I can't believe amphetamine isn't used for weight loss by doctors.

Back then, it was - dextroamphetamine, or Dexedrine, was popularly prescribed for weight loss. Turned out the side effects were much worse than obesity.

Some time ago I remember reading the annual "fattest state in the Union" type article where they say the percentage of obese people per state (I think it's Mississippi?) and what caught my eye was the observation that the leanest state, Colorado, would have been the fattest state just a decade prior.

Does a size 40 even exist anymore? What would this dress in tfa's slideshow picture be in today's sizes?

[timelifeblog.files.wordpress.com image 361x492]

Ignoring the (very common) practice of size deflation, where companies lie about what size the clothes are to make women feel better about buying them, today's women's sizes are inches-20. So, a woman who wears a 36/30 Levi's is theoretically a size 16, as long as she's proportionate to her waist.

stevetherobot:And yet, the "slender" women in the swimsuit pictures and the subject herself in the "Now down to 155 pounds, an attractive Dorothy dances at Navy Ball" picture would be considered overweight today.

spigi:I was Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia SC this morning. In the gorilla enclosure there was a sign saying that the average male gorilla weighed about 400lbs and the average female about 200lbs. In other words, about the same as an average American.

Shakin_Haitian:stevetherobot: And yet, the "slender" women in the swimsuit pictures and the subject herself in the "Now down to 155 pounds, an attractive Dorothy dances at Navy Ball" picture would be considered overweight today.

Are you high?

I think he's talking about the idealized "perfect" woman's body as given to us by the modern beauty magazines/fashion industry these days and not the reality on the ground

dickfreckle:spigi: I was Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia SC this morning. In the gorilla enclosure there was a sign saying that the average male gorilla weighed about 400lbs and the average female about 200lbs. In other words, about the same as an average American.

Hey, I worked at that zoo when I was a kid! I went to USC and it was how I paid for my Ramen noodles before learning how to tend bar

/really nice zoo for such an unremarkable town//do they still have the polar bear observatory and sea lion feedings?

goodolboy71:spigi: I was Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia SC this morning. In the gorilla enclosure there was a sign saying that the average male gorilla weighed about 400lbs and the average female about 200lbs. In other words, about the same as an average American.

cptjeff:Today, that final weight would be considered "an average normal body, perfectly fine and in no way fat, thankyouverymuchnowbuggeroff".

actually, depends on body composition-12-19% body fat is considered "athletic" for women 20-28% is considered "healthy", so if you have a female with little muscle tone, and a large amount of body fat, she'd not be healthy. Size or weight alone are not measurements of "health".

I'm 144 pounds and 23% body fat, working with a personal trainer to get down to 20% or lower(started at 27% 6 weeks ago), my boss is 120 pounds and has zero muscle tone, and no endurance. I can run 12 minute miles currently-after not having run in over 12 years, and I'm doing strength training and a lot of weight training, my boss does nothing but cardio(strength training scares her because adding muscle adds weight), and only for 30 minutes 2x a week. I'm at the gym 4-5x a week, and starting running outside the gym 2x a week. Which of us is "healthy"?